Rich

It is one thing releasing a player to go to the NFL. Another to sign him up with your team so he can't go play for another CFL team for the duration of the contract. That is why you have contracts.

"Renovations" http://www.gov.mb.ca/health/publichealth/environmentalhealth/protection/docs/hpr/closures.pdf That list is kind of disturbing to read..... ignorance is bliss.

I would like this, for the NFL to have an option to buy out CFL contracts. At least then teams would get compensated for finding / developing / promoting players. This will never happen though, because the NFL already limited the signing bonus to these players a team can payout, so it doesn't look like the NFL really wants to go down that road.

If the CFL were even close in money to the NFL, I would agree that players should play out their contracts. But seeing the discrepancy in salaries between the two leagues, the short career window of professional football athletes, and how they risk their bodies for our entertainment, I have no problem with releasing a player early if they have a legit shot at getting on an NFL roster. While we may lose a few star players every year in this manner, if the CFL is viewed as a viable stepping stone to get a shot at the NFL, then we will attract far more talent then we will lose. Most of the guys that are in the CFL are fringe NFLers at best. Let them take their shot at the payday, most eventually come back. I know the argument is that these guys wouldn't have a shot at the NFL if it weren't for the CFL, their careers would be dead. But if you owned or ran a company and an employee of yours came up to you and said they had an offer to make 10 times what you are paying them, would you really tell them no?

I'll go.

I hope this incarnation of Ottawa succeeds, I don't want to see them fail, but I think it has been proven over the last 10 years that the CFL can afford for Ottawa to fail. The league has gotten to the strongest it has been in decades without Ottawa. And while it may need Ottawa and another Eastern team to grow further, the league certainly won't crumble if Ottawa folds again.

The scarcity of the game is what made it special. With the number of those games they had this year, I don't think many people outside of Vancouver really cared. I know I had it on for a bit in the background, but it has become too saturated to really care that much. And if it was mostly for the people of Vancouver, might as well keep the roof closed and keep the people dry.

The league is the healthiest it has been in decades. The players deserve to get paid, say what you want for 6 months work, but these guys put their bodies on the line (with the real threat of long term injuries) and have to leave their families behind. They deserve to be fairly compensated. I'm not saying to go back to the structure that almost bankrupt the league in the 90s, but a salary cap tied to league revenues only makes sense.

I think it is pretty naive to think you can judge the leadership impact a player has on a team based on what you see from the field (where you are watching from either your living room or so far away you can't hear what the player is saying) or post game interviews where 99% of the time players are simply giving canned responses. Leadership is displayed in many different ways. But you need to be with the team during practice, on the road, in the dressing room at half time, in the work out room to see who are the leaders on the team. With the access (or lack of) that fans have to the team, they have to rely on what other players say or the media (who typically get their insight from what the players say or observations from being closer to the team). At the end of the day it is only the coaches and players who know who the true leaders are on the team.

Thats an interesting read. Thanks for posting. According to that article he is released but will be continued to be monitored to ensure that he continues to take his medication, and if he refuses to take his medication he will be institutionalized again.

Unofficially I believe the one-year anniversary would be May 28th. Rich/Mike may be able to correct me though. I believe you are correct. At least that is the earliest post on this board. I'd have to check the archives of the original site before we upgraded to this software. Not sure if that is the date we opened or the date we migrated over to IPBoard. I'll check tonight when I'm home.

I wish I could be paid to attend trainign camp. In some years past, I've taken holidays to watch.

Move back to Winnipeg, then you can just drive by

The article says they don't suspect alcohol was involved.

Welcome to the board!

We have our 1st rounder, Toronto's 3rd, Calgary's 3rd, our 4th, our 6th, Edmonton's 6th, our 7th.

Again. Short of a shotgun to the head, we did EVERYTHING we could.. most money offered is what i keep hearing to butler and id assume bourke if he even fielded ours.. Myddleton is no better then Greaves or swiston and emery passed on us as well.. so whaaaat pray tell could we have done? Pro sports is a results oriented business, you don't get a gold star for trying. Do I applaud their effort, do I think this organization did what they could to sign those guys ... from all accounts, yes. They made their best pitch and the top NI free agents went elsewhere. I'm not down on the leadership or the direction of the club. That still doesn't change the fact that we missed out on guys who would have helped us immensely. Canadian starters is still a huge question mark for this team. So for that reason, I can't see giving a grade of A or B. Sometimes a C+ is just simply the best you can do.

Mike did specify "Consider who we targeted, who was actually available and what the results were." but that is limited criteria. (I'd give him a C on criteria-specifying) And, i don't see why Randle and Willy cannot be included because it was part of the goal to secure these guys before Free Agency, thereby giving us the advantage. That's as good as Free Agency sniping as it gets. I can kinda see your point, but I still wouldn't want you as a teacher marking my grades.** ** And yes, I'm way past that stage. Fair enough, I should have reread Mike's original post, as he did specify some criteria and included Randle. I did teach for a few years at Red River a while back, and I was probably easier on the students then I have been on the Bombers this season. What I meant by expectations is what each grade level means and to what level would you grade them. Another poster just mentioned that they didn't consider a C+ a negative rating, while others clearly do. While I am personally not happy to get a C, I have seen some students who were ecstatic to get them. Is a C simply meeting your expectations? Or would you consider that a B? I see us as just above average. Take away one of Randle or Moore and I think we are below average. Add in one of the "big" NI FA and I think we are far above average. The good news is that the only ranking that really matters is the one at the end of the season. Lots of time and games to be played before we see where this edition of the Bombers ends up.

Thats the problem with getting people to assign a grade without specifying the criteria. Everyone will grade it differently. Also, when I grade, I view a C as average. So a C+ grade is slightly above average which is where I thought we were. I also didn't include Willy or Randle because they were acquired through trades. Ask to grade the overall off season so far and I would go up to a B to B+. If you look at what we lost compared to what we gained in FA (I include Muamba, Mathews, etc even if no one else signed them), then I think we are slightly above average. Not great, but not bad either.

I gave a C+. We were one of the teams that had the most holes and the most money to spend in FA. I'm happy with what we got, but I would say it is average for what we needed. Our OLine and Canadian starters are still looking weak. If we could have nabbed a Bourke / Emery / Laurent / or Butler, then that would have been huge.

Thanks to Cvetkovic for all his years as a Bomber. Great community guy, and was steady as our long snapper for years. Wish him the best in his life after football.

Why would this be great? Sure it's great that True North brought the Jets back, but why do fans yell out 'True North" during a football game and why do we need True North to own and operate the football team? I don't get all this at all. IMO it's disrespectful. Most likely reason is that True North has proven, ever since they brought in the Moose, built the MTS Centre, then built a business model with concert revenue and other external income to bring the NHL back to Winnipeg. They know how to run and own sports / entertainment entities, and have put people in place to slowly turn the Jets around. That and they are backed by some of the richest owners in the NHL / Canada. People compare that to a meddling BOD who run the Bombers, make decisions on the franchise without their own money on the line, which has given us 20 some years without a championship team in a 8.5 team league. (Yes I know Asper has invested a lot of his money into the franchise, but at the end of the day, his money isn't on the line like it is with Chipman). Especially when you hear stories coming out of Regina about them razzing Khari Jones at the end of the last season when it was thought he was coming here about the Bombers being cheap and cutting his per diem in half during the playoffs, joking telling him to get used to it. That is the perception of the Bombers, and probably warranted. One organization is a model way to run a sports franchise and the other .... is not. If the Bombers want the same respect given to True North, then start running their business in a way that people give them that respect.

Curious if the money offered between Ottawa and Winnipeg was similar. Interesting that Burris chooses an expansion franchise over Winnipeg. If this is the perception of the Bombers from free agents, I don't expect a lot of high profile signings come free agency unless we severely over pay. Rebuilding this club and image is going to have to come the hard way No easy fixes here. The good news is that this can be done relatively quickly in the CFL if you have good scouting.

Who cares what the length of the contract is when no contract is guaranteed. Just have to be careful where you place the bonuses so that you can cut him before they come do if his performance declines enough or a new starter emerges.

Darren Cameron (@Darren_Cameron) 2/3/2014, 9:46 AM #Bombers have re-signed two pending free agent Canadian's - OL Chris Kowalczuk @theonetheonlyCK and DL Ryan Lucas @rylucas94